compromise

²⁶For if we sin willingly, after receiving knowledge of the truth, there is no sacrifice remaining for sins,

¹⁵If you love me, keep my commandments.

¹⁷Therefore, he who knows that he ought to do a good thing, and does not do it, for him it is a sin.

¹But accept those who are weak in faith, without disputing about ideas. ²For one person believes that he may eat all things, but if another is weak, let him eat plants. ³He who eats should not despise him who does not eat. And he who does not eat should not judge him who eats. For God has accepted him. ⁴Who are you to judge the servant of another? He stands or falls by his own Lord. But he shall stand. For God is able to make him stand. ⁵For one person discerns one age from the next. But another discerns unto every age. Let each one increase according to his own mind. ⁶He who understands the age, understands for the Lord. And he who eats, eats for the Lord; for he gives thanks to God. And he who does not eat, does not eat for the Lord, and he gives thanks to God.

²⁴No one is able to serve two masters. For either he will have hatred for the one, and love the other, or he will persevere with the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

²¹Then Elijah, drawing near to all the people, said: “How long will you waver between two sides? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal is, then follow him.” And the people did not respond a word to him.

¹And so, I beg you, brothers, by the mercy of God, that you offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, with the subservience of your mind. ²And do not choose to be conformed to this age, but instead choose to be reformed in the newness of your mind, so that you may demonstrate what is the will of God: what is good, and what is well-pleasing, and what is perfect. ³For I say, through the grace that has been given to me, to all who are among you: Taste no more than it is necessary to taste, but taste unto sobriety and just as God has distributed a share of the faith to each one. ⁴For just as, within one body, we have many parts, though all the parts do not have the same role, ⁵so also we, being many, are one body in Christ, and each one is a part, the one of the other. ⁶And we each have different gifts, according to the grace that has been given to us: whether prophecy, in agreement with the reasonableness of faith;

²⁷In response, he said: “You shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart, and from your whole soul, and from all your strength, and from all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

³³Therefore, seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things shall be added to you as well.

⁵Therefore, mortify your body, while it is upon the earth. For because of fornication, impurity, lust, evil desires, and avarice, which are a kind of service to idols,

²⁸Just like a city lying in the open and without surrounding walls, so also is a man who is unable to restrain his own spirit in speaking.

⁷For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has arrived in the flesh. Such a one as this is a deceiver and an antichrist. ⁸Be cautious for yourselves, lest you lose what you have accomplished, and so that, instead, you may receive a full reward. ⁹Everyone who withdraws and does not remain in the doctrine of Christ, does not have God. Whoever remains in the doctrine, such a one as this has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰If anyone comes to you, and does not bring this doctrine, do not be willing to receive him into the house, and do not speak a greeting to him. ¹¹For whoever speaks a greeting to him, is speaking with his evil works.

¹⁴Now therefore, fear the Lord, and serve him with a perfect and very sincere heart. And take away the gods that your fathers served in Mesopotamia and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵But if it seems evil to you that you would serve the Lord, a choice is given to you. Choose today what pleases you, and whom you ought to serve above all else, either the gods that your fathers served in Mesopotamia, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

²⁵And they exchanged the truth of God for a lie. And they worshipped and served the creature, rather than the Creator, who is blessed for all eternity. Amen.

¹³Thus did Saul die for his iniquities, because he betrayed the commandment of the Lord which he had instructed, and did not keep it. And moreover, he even consulted a woman diviner;